Commission for the Environment, Climate change and Energy
I dtreo Comharsanachtaí agus Pobail Bheaga Inbhuanaithe An Beartas Comhshaoil faoi bhun Leibhéal an Bhardais
Opinion factsheet
Ar an leathanach seo
- Comhshaol
- An beartas comhshaoil
Opinion number:
CDR-3195-2019
Status:
Tuairimí a glacadh
Objective
General objective:
The CoR is committed to take into account all typologies of communities. Member States have heterogeneous arrangements both in urban and in non-urban areas that deserve attention. There are many different situations: urban neighbourhoods and districts, mountain districts, villages in sparsely populated areas, hamlets in rural areas, inhabited areas physically separated from the centres of their municipalities (for example small islands) and others.
Environmental policies can present problems and opportunities specific to small communities below the municipal level and the opinion can ensure that EU environmental policy takes this dimension into consideration.
Specific objectives:
• Acknowledge the importance of small communities below the municipal level for environmental policy. Clarify the difference between small municipalities and sub-municipal communities (the latter being the main focus of this opinion), considering the multiple different arrangements, institutional and not, existing in the EU member states.
• Raise attention of EU institutions to the role of sub-municipal communities, ensuring that they are taken into account in the EU policy cycle.
• Promote the role of sub-municipal communities in specific environmental policies.
• Encourage the European Commission to take into account sub-municipal communities in guidance documents on environment policy implementation and on access to EU programmes and funding .
• Promote involvement of a new range of interlocutors at sub-municipal level in CoR and EU environmental activities.
• Assess the heterogeneity of sub-municipal communities and their specific environmental challenges and opportunities.
• Clarify the concept of sustainable small communities in relation with social, economic and environmental aspects.
• Improve access to funding for environmental projects for sub-municipal communities.
• Promote recognition of positive environmental practices in sub-municipal communities.
• Promote the role of citizens' participation in environmental policies at sub-municipal level.
The CoR is committed to take into account all typologies of communities. Member States have heterogeneous arrangements both in urban and in non-urban areas that deserve attention. There are many different situations: urban neighbourhoods and districts, mountain districts, villages in sparsely populated areas, hamlets in rural areas, inhabited areas physically separated from the centres of their municipalities (for example small islands) and others.
Environmental policies can present problems and opportunities specific to small communities below the municipal level and the opinion can ensure that EU environmental policy takes this dimension into consideration.
Specific objectives:
• Acknowledge the importance of small communities below the municipal level for environmental policy. Clarify the difference between small municipalities and sub-municipal communities (the latter being the main focus of this opinion), considering the multiple different arrangements, institutional and not, existing in the EU member states.
• Raise attention of EU institutions to the role of sub-municipal communities, ensuring that they are taken into account in the EU policy cycle.
• Promote the role of sub-municipal communities in specific environmental policies.
• Encourage the European Commission to take into account sub-municipal communities in guidance documents on environment policy implementation and on access to EU programmes and funding .
• Promote involvement of a new range of interlocutors at sub-municipal level in CoR and EU environmental activities.
• Assess the heterogeneity of sub-municipal communities and their specific environmental challenges and opportunities.
• Clarify the concept of sustainable small communities in relation with social, economic and environmental aspects.
• Improve access to funding for environmental projects for sub-municipal communities.
• Promote recognition of positive environmental practices in sub-municipal communities.
• Promote the role of citizens' participation in environmental policies at sub-municipal level.
Impact
The opinion is an Own-initiative opinion focused on a topic that has not been significantly raised in the past in the EU institutions. The approval of the opinion in itself brought the topic of environment policy below the municipal level to the attention of the EU institutions.
The European Commission provided an official reply https://cor.europa.eu/en/our-work/Documents/Opinions/90th-Report-CoR-Follow-up-opinions-February-2020.pdf underlining the areas of environment policy for which there is already attention for communities below the municipal level. In relation with the specific challenges at sub-municipal level the European Commission pointed to the possible actions in the framework of the main EU programmes in relation with cohesion, agriculture and maritime and fisheries issues. It listed more specific initiatives and in particular the Community-Led Local Development (CLLD). It referred also to existing documents and studies dealing with small communities.
The impact of this opinion will need further assessment at a later date, considering that some elements are still being discussed.
Concerning the proposal of a "Sustainable Neighbourhood Award" or an annual "European Day of Sustainable Villages and Neighbourhoods", the European Commission indicated that it will reflect upon this point, having in mind the budget and resources required for such a scheme to be organised.
The CoR is working to extend the Division of Powers portal to the sub-municipal level for the section on environment and climate as proposed by the opinion.
The CoR secretariat is discussing the integration of the sub-municipal dimension in EU level recognition systems and awards.
The Rapporteur was invited as speaker to and event on waste prevention and circular economy in islands organized by the Intergroup on Climate Change, Biodiversity and Sustainable Development of the European Parliament, by ACR+ and by Blue islands. https://www.acrplus.org/images/pdf/Report-_MinimisingthehiddencostsoftourisminMediterraneanislands-Webinar29.04.2020.pdf
He had the chance to speak about the proposals of the opinion that includes prominently the issue of small islands.
An important development in this field, not directly connected with the opinion, is the New Leipzig Charter- The transformative power of cities for the common good was adopted at the Informal Ministerial Meetings organised on 30 November 2020 under German Presidency. It includes references to the neighbourhood level also in connection to environment.
The European Commission provided an official reply https://cor.europa.eu/en/our-work/Documents/Opinions/90th-Report-CoR-Follow-up-opinions-February-2020.pdf underlining the areas of environment policy for which there is already attention for communities below the municipal level. In relation with the specific challenges at sub-municipal level the European Commission pointed to the possible actions in the framework of the main EU programmes in relation with cohesion, agriculture and maritime and fisheries issues. It listed more specific initiatives and in particular the Community-Led Local Development (CLLD). It referred also to existing documents and studies dealing with small communities.
The impact of this opinion will need further assessment at a later date, considering that some elements are still being discussed.
Concerning the proposal of a "Sustainable Neighbourhood Award" or an annual "European Day of Sustainable Villages and Neighbourhoods", the European Commission indicated that it will reflect upon this point, having in mind the budget and resources required for such a scheme to be organised.
The CoR is working to extend the Division of Powers portal to the sub-municipal level for the section on environment and climate as proposed by the opinion.
The CoR secretariat is discussing the integration of the sub-municipal dimension in EU level recognition systems and awards.
The Rapporteur was invited as speaker to and event on waste prevention and circular economy in islands organized by the Intergroup on Climate Change, Biodiversity and Sustainable Development of the European Parliament, by ACR+ and by Blue islands. https://www.acrplus.org/images/pdf/Report-_MinimisingthehiddencostsoftourisminMediterraneanislands-Webinar29.04.2020.pdf
He had the chance to speak about the proposals of the opinion that includes prominently the issue of small islands.
An important development in this field, not directly connected with the opinion, is the New Leipzig Charter- The transformative power of cities for the common good was adopted at the Informal Ministerial Meetings organised on 30 November 2020 under German Presidency. It includes references to the neighbourhood level also in connection to environment.
Essential points
THE EUROPEAN COMMITTEE OF THE REGIONS
- aims to make sure that the needs of all types of communities are taken into account in EU environmental policies; underlines that this opinion focuses on sub-municipal communities such as neighbourhoods as part of an urban municipality or villages as part of a rural municipality; asserts that important environmental specificities can be found both at and below the municipal level;
- stresses, in particular, the need to take into account specific territorial situations, which encounter particular environmental challenges. On account of their remoteness, these areas sometimes possess unique natural features that give them disproportionate ecological importance: small islands, sparsely or underpopulated areas, mountain or lake areas;
- acknowledges the varied contexts within which small communities find themselves, ranging from urban to rural areas, from densely to sparsely populated areas, and from wealthy to deprived areas;
- maintains that the sustainable communities concept should be aimed at regenerating poor or vulnerable areas by combining social and environmental objectives;
- strongly believes that the EU should consider the specific needs and contributions of small and sub-municipal communities in the formulation and implementation of its environmental policies; considers that the successful implementation of many EU and national environmental policies depends on their ownership by, and the contribution of, sub-municipal communities;
- proposes to identify mechanisms for taking sub-municipal issues into account in the formulation of CoR opinions and for bringing them to the attention of the EU institutions and bodies;
- commits to a dialogue with the European Commission, including in the framework of the Technical Platform for Cooperation on the Environment, to ensure that small communities below the municipal level are adequately taken into consideration in the implementation of specific EU environmental policies. This could build on existing efforts by DG ENV and other DGs to provide guidance documents and tools focused on small communities and neighbourhoods;
- emphasises the importance of enabling sub-municipal actors to access EU funding programmes.